Magic in Europe
Cunning folk and grimoires, alchemy, runes and seidr, the fairy faith, the witch trials, and the folk calendar of fire and fertility. 783 entries on EveryJaadu so far.
Places of magic
London 18Paris 18Athens 12Delphi 11Dodona 4Edinburgh 4Kraków 4Olympia 4Praeneste 4Prague 4Amsterdam 3Bamberg 3Cairo 3Capitoline Hill 3Cumae 3Dartmoor 3Egyptian Hall 3Eleusis 3Florence 3Logroño 3Lyon 3New York 3Quebec 3Santiago de Compostela 3Trier 3Val Camonica 3Vilnius 3Würzburg 3York 3Zugarramurdi 3
Rites of the region
Midsummer and St John's Eve herbs and firesWalpurgis Night and May Day firesSamhain and Halloween divination gamesFirst-footing at HogmanayWitch bottleKnocking on wood and horseshoe customsThe Sator squareIcelandic galdrastafirMalocchio removal with oil and waterMatiasma and ftou ftou
Countries
🇦🇱 Albania 29🇦🇩 Andorra 1🇦🇹 Austria 31🇧🇾 Belarus 20🇧🇪 Belgium 11🇧🇦 Bosnia and Herzegovina 3🇧🇬 Bulgaria 37🇭🇷 Croatia 15🇨🇿 Czech Republic 14🇪🇪 Estonia 28🇫🇮 Finland 37🇫🇷 France 153🇩🇪 Germany 127🇬🇷 Greece 124🇭🇺 Hungary 14🇮🇸 Iceland 47🇮🇪 Ireland 103🇮🇹 Italy 130🇽🇰 Kosovo 4🇱🇻 Latvia 9🇱🇹 Lithuania 18🇱🇺 Luxembourg 2🇲🇹 Malta 2🇲🇩 Moldova 4🇲🇪 Montenegro 3🇳🇱 Netherlands 32🇲🇰 North Macedonia 5🇳🇴 Norway 41🇵🇱 Poland 40🇵🇹 Portugal 16🇷🇴 Romania 42🇷🇺 Russia 112🇷🇸 Serbia 36🇸🇰 Slovakia 4🇸🇮 Slovenia 7🇪🇸 Spain 73🇸🇪 Sweden 80🇨🇭 Switzerland 30🇺🇦 Ukraine 24🇬🇧 United Kingdom 224🇻🇦 Vatican City 1
PurposeProtectionHealingSeeing and foretellingLuck and prosperityLove and attractionCursing and harmCleansing and purificationSpeaking with spirits and the deadChange and initiationBinding and oathsPower and authorityWonder and entertainment
WhoShamansFolk healersPriests and ritual specialistsWitches, sorcerers and cunning folkDiviners and readersMediums and the possessedCeremonial magicians and alchemistsHouseholds and ordinary peopleStage magiciansScholars and sceptics
BeliefHindu and TantricBuddhistJainMuslim and SufiJewishChristianSikhZoroastrianShinto and TaoistIndigenous and shamanicAfrican and Afro-diasporicPagan and NeopaganEsoteric and occultFolk and village customSecular and stageOther traditions
🇩🇪 Germany and 1 moreWitch's mark
A bodily mark believed to prove a pact with the Devil during early modern witch trialsBelief · Cursing and harm Historical
🇮🇪 Ireland and 5 moreHoly well
A water source revered for healing and ritual across pagan and Christian traditionsTradition · Healing · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
🇮🇪 Ireland and 5 moreFairy ring
A natural ring of mushrooms surrounded by folklore about dancing spirits and witches.Belief · Wonder and entertainment Living
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreChurch grim
A guardian spirit of Christian churchyards, often appearing as a black dog or lamb.Being · Protection Historical
🇮🇹 Italy and 1 moreAradia
A figure of Italian folklore and modern pagan witchcraft, seen as a teacher of magic and liberation.Figure · Cursing and harm · Power and authority Revived
🇬🇷 Greece and 2 moreNumerology
The belief that numbers hold hidden meanings and influence human events.Belief · Seeing and foretelling · Luck and prosperity Historical
🇮🇸 Iceland and 1 moreNornsnornir
Fate-weaving figures from Norse myth who shape human destiny and tend the world tree.Being · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Historical
🇩🇪 Germany and 1 moreWill-o'-the-wisp
A ghostly light in folklore that guides or misleads travellers over marshes and bogs.Belief · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Historical
🇸🇪 Sweden and 4 moreEmanuel Swedenborg
An 18th-century Swedish scientist who became a mystic and claimed to visit the afterlife.Text · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Change and initiation Living
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreNicholas Culpeper
An English herbalist and astrologer who translated medical texts into English for the poor.Text · Healing · Power and authority Historical
🇮🇸 IcelandIcelandic magical stavesgaldrastafir
Sigils from Icelandic grimoires believed to hold magical powerCharm · Power and authority Historical
🇮🇪 Ireland and 1 moreSamhain
A Gaelic festival marking the end of harvest and the start of winter, observed on November 1st.Tradition · Protection · Speaking with spirits and the dead Living
🇬🇧 United KingdomBoggart
A malevolent household spirit from northern English folkloreBeing · Cursing and harm Historical
🇭🇺 Hungary and 1 moreWitch trials in Hungary
A centuries-long series of persecutions for sorcery that ended with imperial decree.Belief · Cursing and harm Historical
🇬🇧 United KingdomWilliam Lilly
A seventeenth-century English astrologer and author who shaped Western tradition.Text · Seeing and foretelling · Power and authority Historical
🇬🇧 United KingdomWitch trials in England
A historical period of legal persecution for alleged sorcery in England from the 15th to the 18th centuryBelief · Cursing and harm Historical
🇸🇪 SwedenWitch trials in Denmark
A history of legal executions and local panics against sorcery in early modern Denmark.Belief · Cursing and harm Historical
🇮🇹 Italy and 1 moreThe Fool
A tarot card of unique status, depicting a wanderer or madman outside the numbered sequence.Text · Wonder and entertainment Historical
🇮🇶 Iraq and 5 moreGrimoire
A textbook containing instructions for spells, rituals, and the creation of magical objects.Text · Protection · Healing Historical
🇪🇸 SpainDirectorium Inquisitorum
A 14th-century manual for inquisitors on heresy, magic, and trial procedureText · Cursing and harm · Power and authority Historical
🇩🇪 Germany and 2 moreBrocken spectreBrockengespenst
A giant shadow cast by an observer onto clouds, often surrounded by a rainbow halo.Illusion · Wonder and entertainment Living
🇬🇧 United KingdomHarry Price
A British psychic researcher and conjurer who investigated paranormal claims and exposed fraudulent mediums.Tradition · Wonder and entertainment Historical
🇪🇸 Spain and 5 moreAlfonso X of Castileel Sabio
A medieval king who sponsored astronomical tables and translated works on magic and astrology.Text · Power and authority · Seeing and foretelling Historical
🇬🇷 Greece and 5 moreBay Laurelδάφνη
An aromatic Mediterranean plant used in cooking and as a symbol of victory and purification.Substance · Protection · Cleansing and purification Living
🇵🇱 PolandWitch trials in Poland
A historical record of sorcery prosecutions and executions in Poland from the 15th to the 19th century.Belief · Cursing and harm Historical
🇬🇧 United Kingdom and 1 moreSamuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers
British occultist and co-founder of the Hermetic Order of the Golden DawnFigure Historical
🇮🇹 ItalyMarsilio Ficino
A Renaissance priest and philosopher who revived Plato and blended astrology with Christian theology.Text · Speaking with spirits and the dead · Healing Historical
🇨🇭 SwitzerlandValais witch trials
The first systematic European witch-hunt, beginning in the Valais region of Switzerland in 1428.Tradition · Cursing and harm Historical
🇷🇺 RussiaBlack magic
Magic traditionally defined by malevolent intent and selfish purposesBelief · Cursing and harm Historical
🇮🇪 IrelandFetch
A spectral double of a living person, seen as an omen of death or long life.Being · Seeing and foretelling Historical
🇬🇧 United KingdomSamlesbury witches
Three Lancashire women acquitted in a 1612 trial linked to anti-Catholic propagandaBelief · Cursing and harm Historical
🇩🇪 GermanyJohannes Junius
Mayor of Bamberg executed in the witch trials, known for a letter to his daughterFigure Historical
🇳🇱 NetherlandsCornelius Loos
A Catholic priest who publicly opposed the European witch trials of the late 1500s.Belief · Cursing and harm Historical
🇬🇧 United KingdomWiccan Rede
A moral guideline for Wiccans stating that actions should cause no harm.Text · Cursing and harm Living
🇮🇪 Ireland and 1 moreCeltic mythology
The mythic traditions of the Celtic peoples, preserved in Irish and Welsh textsTradition · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
🇸🇪 SwedenMora witch trial
A 1669 Swedish mass execution driven by child testimony and European hysteriaBelief · Cursing and harm Historical
🇫🇮 Finland and 1 moreWitch trials in Finland
A historical record of legal persecution for magic in a region where men were common targets.Belief · Cursing and harm Historical
🇳🇴 NorwayVardø witch trials
A major Scandinavian persecution of women accused of sorcery in 17th-century NorwayBelief · Cursing and harm Historical
🇮🇹 Italy and 4 moreTarottarocchi
A set of cards for games and divination, with roots in fifteenth-century ItalyText · Wonder and entertainment · Seeing and foretelling Living
🇪🇪 Estonia and 1 moreWitch trials in Latvia and Estonia
Early modern persecutions of sorcery and paganism by Baltic German authoritiesBelief · Cursing and harm · Cleansing and purification Historical
🇫🇷 France and 1 moreCernunnos
An antlered Celtic deity depicted with torcs and serpents, known from Roman-era Gaul.Being · Power and authority · Luck and prosperity Historical
🇬🇧 United KingdomPaisley witches
A 1697 Scottish witch trial ending in mass execution after a child's illness sparked local panic.Belief · Cursing and harm Historical
🇩🇪 GermanyPhilipp Adolf von Ehrenberg
A German prince-bishop who directed a massive witch-hunt in the 1620sFigure · Cursing and harm Historical
🇬🇷 GreeceOrphismὈρφικά
A Greek mystery tradition based on the myth of Dionysus and the soul's journeyTradition Historical
🇷🇺 Russia and 2 moreUpiórупіор
A demonic spirit from Slavic and Turkic folklore that is believed to return from the dead to feed on the living.Being · Cursing and harm Historical
🇫🇷 France and 2 moreÉliphas Lévi
A French writer who shaped modern occult thought and ceremonial magic.Text · Power and authority · Speaking with spirits and the dead Historical
🇩🇪 GermanyAlp
A Germanic spirit that presses on sleepers and drinks milkBeing · Cursing and harm · Luck and prosperity Historical
🇬🇧 United KingdomMatthew Hopkins
The English witch-hunter who led the deadliest wave of executions in Britain.Figure · Cursing and harm Historical
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Brocken spectre: Draceane, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Alfonso X of Castile: Otto Posse (1847-1921), Public domain, source
- Celtic mythology: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- Grimoire: Bengt A. Lundberg, CC BY 2.5, source
- Black magic: https://www.flickr.com/photos/eliogarcia/ (nick in flickr:creo que soy, CC BY 2.0, source
- Samlesbury witches: Tom Oates, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Numerology: Pietro Bongo, Public domain, source
- Valais witch trials: Dagalia2, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Tarot: World Web Playing Card Museum, Public domain, source
- Orphism: Unknown author, CC BY 4.0, source
- Éliphas Lévi: Eliphas Lévi [1810-1875], Public domain, source
- Alp: Henry Fuseli, Public domain, source
- Matthew Hopkins: Unknown author, CC BY 4.0, source
- Mora witch trial: Unknown author Unknown author contemporary artist, Public domain, source
- Witch trials in Denmark: Rigsarkivet - Danish National Archives, CC BY-SA 2.0, source
- Witch trials in England: Totnesmartin, Public domain, source
- Cernunnos: Nationalmuseet, Roberto Fortuna og Kira Ursem, Public domain, source
- Bay Laurel: Forest and Kim Starr, CC BY 3.0 us, source
- Upiór: Віщун, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Harry Price: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, source
- Directorium Inquisitorum: Nicolás Eymerich, Public domain, source
- Samhain: Daniel Maclise, Public domain, source
- William Lilly: Simon Harriyott, CC BY 2.0, source
- Nicholas Culpeper: Richard Gaywood, Public domain, source
- Emanuel Swedenborg: Carl Frederik von Breda, Public domain, source
- Marsilio Ficino: Marsilio Ficino, Public domain, source
- Icelandic magical staves: Unknown author, Public domain, source
- The Fool: Johann Georg Rauch, Public domain, source
- Will-o'-the-wisp: Hermann Hendrich, Public domain, source
- Norns: file: James Steakley ; artwork: Gustav Heidenreich, Public domain, source
- Church grim: Inès Lee, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Boggart: Katolophyromai, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Fairy ring: User:Mrs skippy, Public domain, source
- Holy well: The Speckled Bird, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Witch's mark: T. H. Matteson, Public domain, source